Reports that Hudson’s Bay Co. is looking to buy online “flash-sale” retailer Gilt.com for US$250 million had some in the industry questioning why the Toronto department store chain would want to acquire a Web retailer whose estimated value had slid from US$1-billion four years ago.

The Toronto-based owner of Saks Fifth Ave. and Lord & Taylor is in the running to buy bankrupt department store chain V&D of the Netherlands, according to multiple Dutch media reports.

Several recent reports in the Dutch media, citing sources close to the negotiations, say HBC governor Richard Baker is squaring off for the stores against Dutch retail and real estate investor Roland Kahn of Cool Investments, owner of the Netherlands-based retail chains CoolCat, M & S Mode, America Today and the lingerie brand Sapph.

“Many landlords are charmed by (HBC’s) serious interest in a substantial part of the V&D buildings,” says a translated report from the publication AD.

“The problem is that both (Kahn) and HBC want only a part of the V&D buildings, especially those in large cities. Most owners, however, have buildings in both large and small municipalities.”

HBC did not confirm or deny the reports when reached for comment Wednesday. “It is company policy not to comment on rumour or speculation,” HBC spokeswoman Tiffany Bourré said in an email.

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Such a deal would be the second this year for HBC, which has executed a number of savvy real estate acquisitions to grow and diversify its real estate and retail store network, which it is also expanding organically.

Last month, HBC announced its US$250-million purchase of online retailer Gilt.com, a “flash-sale” site that it will use to blend with its network of off-price stores and enhance the company’s mobile shopping capabilities.

In September, HBC closed its $3.8-billion acquisition of German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof, with 102 locations in Germany and 16 under the banner Galeria Inno in Belgium. Following the completion of the Galeria acquisition last September, HBC said it now generated a majority of its sales from outside of the United States.

“We believe that there are tremendous opportunities to grow the Kaufhof and Inno banners, and look forward to working with the existing management team to execute on our combined vision for the future of this business,” Jerry Storch, HBC’s CEO, said at the time. “This vision includes dramatic enhancements to the customer experience through the introduction of new brands, a focus on high-performing merchandise categories, substantial expansion of Kaufhof’s digital capabilities and, over time, introduction of Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off Fifth into the German market.”

This week, the Dutch publication Quote, citing sources close to Kaufhof, said insiders expect HBC will renovate V&D’s buildings in order to make way for its own stores, giving the Canadian retailer a solid foothold into the Netherlands. The German chain has strong similarities with V&D, according to Quote.

Netherlands-based publication NRC said V&D’s bankruptcy trustees will asses the plans of the most promising candidates next week.

Next week also marks the grand opening date for the first Saks Fifth Avenue store in Canada, adjacent to the flagship Hudson’s Bay store in downtown Toronto.